The Taipei District Court said yesterday it had issued an arrest warrant for former FAT chairman Stephen Tsui (崔湧), who jumped bail and has apparently fled the country.
Tsui faces 18 years in jail if convicted. He is one of the major defendants in a case involving financially strapped Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) officials who allegedly bribed Chinese officials to win route rights in China.
Tsui is suspected of fleeing the country after he failed to appear at the Taipei District Court on Monday.
When asked of Tsui’s whereabouts, his lawyer, Tu Ying-da (杜英達), told the presiding judge that he could not find Tsui, who had also failed to show up to a meeting with his lawyer last week, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) reported.
A friend of Tsui reportedly received an e-mail from him saying that he had left the country. He is suspected to be hiding in the US, where his children are attending school.
Taipei District Court spokesperson Huang Chun-ming (黃俊明) said yesterday that the court had issued an emergency arrest warrant and reported the case to the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau.
When Tsui was released on NT$90 million (US$3 million) bail last year, the district court ruled that he must report to his local police department each Wednesday, Huang said. Tsui had made his weekly appearances until last week. A police officer said that Tsui wasn’t at his home.
If Tsui fails to appear in court, the judge could list him as a fugitive and confiscate his bail money, Huang said.
Benny Hu (胡定吾), another former FAT chairman, could get a six-year sentence if convicted, while former airline president Philip Chen (陳尚群) could spend 14 years in prison.
Prosecutors have charged Tsui, Hu and Chen with embezzlement, forgery and breach of trust.
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